Hindu Group to Get Just $175,000 In Textbook Bias Suit

June 6, 2009

Author: Denny Walsh

Source: The Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/news/story/1923828.html

The much-ballyhooed brouhaha over how Hinduism is taught in California's secondary public schools has apparently been laid to rest.

A Sacramento federal judge entered final judgment this week in a lawsuit accusing members of the state Board of Education and the state's curriculum czar of unconstitutional actions.

California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials alleged that board members had discriminated against Hindus and their supporters during the 2005-06 adoption process for sixth-grade history and social science textbooks, and that the books represented Hinduism in a demeaning, inaccurate way.

In an order filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. approved a settlement agreement in which the board makes no curriculum concessions but agrees to pay the Northridge-based nonprofit $175,000 – a sum unlikely to cover its costs in connection with the suit that was initiated more than three years ago.